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Covid-related rapid heart rate?
I'm posting this for a friend who's been dealing with an intermittent rapid heart rate for about a month now. Like many dealing with this, he's dealing with some anxiety and reading what other people are going through could cause more anxiety, so I'm posting this for him and filtering out the feedback. He's had COVID at least once (so bad that he had to get convalescent plasma). This was approx. a year ago.
Here are the details:
He's 53 years old, non-smoker, non-drinker. This all started around mid-September. The only time his heart rate has been over 100 is when he went to the ER (twice now in the past month). Most of the time it's mid-80s. He has intermittent fatigue. He can be good one day then drained the next. He thinks he does have some brain fog and can't concentrate some times. Before all this started, he was walking a mile a day on a treadmill with no breathing issues.
This started out of the blue. One morning he woke up, opened his eyes (while still in bed) and felt dizzy and light headed. That same day he lost his appetite. The next day felt a little out of breath just walking around and noticed his heart going a little faster than usual.
The day after that he walked three blocks and felt winded and felt weak in the knees. His heart was racing. Many times since then, he can be getting up from a chair and his heart will begin racing. For the past four weeks he's had intermittent episodes of his heart racing while at rest or just standing up. Most of the time his BP is good.
From what I've read on this forum this seems pretty typical. I've read many people they say they've had these symptoms for months or 2-3 years. Some say they've gotten relief from Metoprolol, Amantadine, or adding magnesium supplements to their diet.
Is there anything else he can try at this point? He just went to the ER tonight because his heart rate shot up to 114 and his BP was high (161/94). He's OK at the moment, but it's quite unnerving dealing with this (for everyone).
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Thank you!
I had a bad case of COVID in August 2022. The high heart rate of 136 started about a month later. I went to a cardiologist and had a stress test done and all is well. It's from COVID she said. My heart rate finally calmed down a few months later. I also have thyroid issues which can cause palpitations. I can see how a high heart rate/palpitations can make you feel anxious. You are very aware of your heart beating and the palpitations. I pray this calms down for you. If not please, see a Cardiologist for a work up or an Endocrinologist. COVID can do some crazy things to us. God bless you! I care.
Although I’ve been seeing a teledoc (Covid Specialist) for over 8 months & continue to do so monitoring my blood markers, I felt I needed to see a Covid Specialist in person re my racing heart & erratic BP. I’m fortunate that Dr Peter McCullough (a Cardiologist, Internist, & Epidemiologist by trade) who’s known worldwide as a Covid Specialist has office in my town. He added an extra BP med to my regular one (called Nadolol) & it eliminated my problems! He said he’s seeing lots of Long Haul patients with racing hearts that basically need to be re-regulated. May (or may not) be ur issue but prob worth discussing with a heart specialist who also understands Long Haul Covid issues…
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3 ReactionsThank you, very helpful
I noticed after having Covid the first time, I would get an increased heart rate when doing something that should not cause an increased heart rate. I was referred to a cardiologist who didn’t find any major problems- EKG, 48 hr holter monitor and carotid ultrasound. He did tell me i has some valve leakage, but he did not think it was serious enough to put le on medication as my resting heart rate is very low. I do still notice at times my heart rate increasing for no discernible reason.However it doesn’t happen often.
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1 ReactionI also have rapid heartbeats since having had a covid infection in 2020, it started a few weeks after testing negative, I also get sweating and trembling, the symptoms come and go now but I noticed that when I stress the symptoms get worse.. I have some of the other symptoms mentioned here. I completed a survey for the government regarding covid vaccines, they were interested in how the new booster affected my long covid..it didn’t really make any difference but my symptoms did increase for a while. I’m concerned about the RSV virus and they are not covering the cost for it, $300-350. I really resent that because it’s important and this cost is going to deter many people who can’t afford it, lack of caring is what I call it.
Using "heart" as a search keyword in the Post-COVID Recovery group search, I found several heart-related discussions. See all:
Heart https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/post-covid-recovery-covid-19/?search=heart+&index=discussions
Sorry for the late reply. I'm not getting notified for some reason when someone replies to my original post.
I will let him know about the abdominal binder. He might be interested in that since he still has dizziness spells to this day. Not severe but still there. Unfortunately he lives in a small city that's a couple of hours away form any large city that might have a long COVID clinic.
Sorry you (and everyone else) are going through this. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Thank you for that link. He's feeling a bit better these days and I think he might be up to looking at these posts himself at this point.
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